If you’re planning a trip to Paris, I highly recommend booking a tour of the City of Light at the beginning of your trip. If you do it on the first day you’re there, a Paris tour will make sure you see the city’s signature sights and give you a better feel for further exploration.
Your best bet , especially if you are a first-time visitor to Paris is to get on a bus tour. The best one I found is called Paris L’Open Hop-On-Hop-Off Tour. Basically, you can ride around on these double-decker buses all day and hop off as many times as you like, checking out whatever sites strike your fancy. At about $35 USD, it’s a steal. The Grand Tour takes 2 hours, but you’ll get to see the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, L’Arc de Triomphe, Champs D’Elysees and much more.
Once you’ve seen the city from a bus, you might want to narrow your focus, and that’s where all the specialized tours come into place. For example, depending on your interest in Versailles, you can take a full or half-day tour of Versailles for starting at $96 USD. These allow you and a small group (no more than eight people) to follow a guide around and explore Louis XIV’s famed palace. Another great specialized Paris Tour is a prioritized, “skip the line” tour of the Louvre. While it focuses on Venus de Milo, Victory of Samothrace and the Mona Lisa, it frees you from wasting time in the queues. You’d be remiss if you went to Paris and didn’t see the Mona Lisa, and checking this off your itinerary without all the lines is a great time-saver. Afterwards, you can hang around the museum and check it out at your own pace.
Posted on June 3, 2010 in Things To Do, Tours & Activities.